


the best thing (that never happened)

by tusenskona



Category: Final Space (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Hints of Legal Fights, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Trans Male Character, Transphobia, also known as the au where sheryl at least tries to be a mom, his deadname is lost to time. none of you will see it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-08 05:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21230381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tusenskona/pseuds/tusenskona
Summary: John's death hit Sheryl like a wall of bricks. It was at a bar at a forgettable planet in Sector 92XX83 that she heard it from the locals. They whispered to each other about an explosion, gravitational anomaly, certain death. Hearing about the event made her stomach hurl, and luckily the bartender thought she had just drank too much, and not about how the love of her life had died.or, that au where sheryl was a pretty alright mom





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this will be sporadically updated more as a drabbles thing surrounding the concept than anything

John's death hit Sheryl like a wall of bricks. It was at a bar at a forgettable planet in Sector 92XX83 that she heard it from the locals. They whispered to each other about an explosion, gravitational anomaly, certain death. Hearing about the event made her stomach hurl, and luckily the bartender thought she had just drank too much, and not about how the love of her life had died.

Sheryl thought that she still had some years to reconnect with her ex-husband, but it all went down the drain the moment she heard about the explosion. No matter how much she tried to forget and move on, she couldn’t do it.

The funeral was no easier on her, seeing her hellspawn of a "son" just standing there. The mere sight of Gary filled Sheryl with rage, a taunt of how similar he looked like her and yet had _ his _ face and eyes. Seeing him trying to reach out to her made her disgusted. How _ dare _John pick a brat over her.

A small part of her realizes that she isn't really mad at him though, she knows from personal experience that he's just asking for the bare minimum affection from his mother. _ Doesn't excuse him from taking John away from you _, her brain tries to rationalize. And she agrees.

Leaving Gary alone at home after the funeral was exactly the escape she needed. She couldn't stay in the same house that she was kicked out of. Going to a local bar, she buys a whole bottle of liquor after a couple glasses of wine, and starts walking home, super drunk.

"Oh John... Johnny… Johnny Longjohns... You bastard of a man..." She mutters insincerely to herself. She could never hate John. Walking into an alley, she found a trashcan to throw her bottle at anger in.

Suddenly the ground she was walking on was swallowed whole, and in front of her was a huge monster. 

"Wow, I am so wasted." She slurred at the sight after falling down at the sheer size of the monster. This could only be her mind playing tricks on her, she is heavily intoxicated after all.

"Oh, you are very intoxicated, but yet I am here. I am the Titan Oreskis, and I have a proposition for you, Sheryl Goodspeed."  
Hearing the titan out, she realizes that this is another job for her. She's tired of doing jobs. Doing jobs cost her husband.   
"... And in return, I will return your husband to you."   
That caught her interest all right.  
"You'll bring John back?" It seemed almost too good to be true.  
"Yes. As long as you bring me the dimensional keys first."

She still needed to think about it. She wanted her John back, but then there was the brat to think about. She knows how it feels when parents walk out of your life, and despite how much of a husband stealer that little spawn is, she knows that abandoning him will bite her in the ass one day.

She gave a nod to the titan, but no verbal agreement.

Coming home wet from rain and less wasted, she barely stumbled through the door before being greeted by the sight of her spawn.   
"Hi!" He said with a cheery voice, but as fast as he noticed her scowl he backed away.

Going upstairs, she locked herself in John's room again - her and John's former room - and stared at how unnaturally still it all was. The bed she purchased together with John on their anniversary was gone, and a smaller bed occupied that space. There was a picture of John and their spawn on the wall on a vacation it seems. The inherent calmness of the room, the cleanliness, the way she had been _ erased, forgotten, _ was the final nail in the coffin and she started screaming, throwing anything her hands could get to on the floor or on the walls. Lamps were shattered, a coffee table in splinters, sheets on the floor and remains of a shattered potted plant on the wall. 

She barely noticed that she grabbed a jar, and almost threw it on the ground when she noticed that it had contents in it. She gently got it on eye level and she was face to face with a caterpillar. Right as she saw the name of the caterpillar taped on the jar - Mooncake, in John's writing style too - a knock was heard on the door.

"Mommy? Is everything alright?"  
A frown slowly crept on her face, but she smacked her cheek to stop it. Unlocking the door, she opened the door to Gary. He gasped and reached for the jar.  
"I was looking for him! Where did you find it?"

Something finally knocked sense into her. Was she really gonna repeat her past on this child, her child? Did she really think of abandoning her son for something that was literally too good to be true?

"Ah, he was in your dad's room. Did you forget ‘im there?" She let herself smile for the first time in too long. Gary sure was a spawn, but there was no way in hell that she would repeat her family history on her son.

He bounced up and down, trying to catch the jar from Sheryl’s hands, but she just raised it higher.  
“Gary, you have to ask.” She had a grin on her face.   
“Please, can I have Mooncake back, Mommy?” Gary was overly dramatic, getting down on his knees and using his puppy dog eyes.

“Alright.” She feigned defeat, handing over the jar to Gary. He took it with joy and jumped up to hug Sheryl’s legs. She almost told him to back off, but rethought it at the last second, and just patted Gary’s head. This made her tear up, even though she felt she needed to be angry at him. _ She needed to escape this situation _. "Now let Mommy rest. Her head is hurting.”

Closing the door behind her, she slid down to the floor and sat there, crying.


	2. Chapter 2

Sheryl felt like she desperately needed a job as soon as possible to bring in some cash. A house as big as the one John bought could not sustain itself for long with only saved money on John's bank account, and she did not want to resort to shady jobs again. She chose to stay on Earth with Gary, and while Sheryl does not doubt Gary about being alone at home - see; John leaving on missions -, she did start to commit to being a mom now. Being a mom comes with responsibilities.

Currently, she needed to register herself as Gary's legal guardian and that the house stays as hers, and that included a lot of papers and a lot of legal fights. It was absolutely tiring.

Dreading the legal battle over the house, she turned to look over Gary's legal documents. She thought she skimmed through so fast that she read a name wrong when she first got them, but no. Instead of Gary Goodspeed, it said that she had an offspring named  **▇▇ ** Goodspeed.

She looked up from the piece of paper, almost questioning to thin air.

_ Who the fuck is  _ ** _▇▇ _ ** _ Goodspeed? _

Looking down and reading it for a third time, she almost wanted to call out for Gary to ask him, but reading the date of birth made her rethink. The birth date matched the birth date for having Gary. She genuinely doesn't remember what sex her own child was at birth, having only referred to it as her spawn for actual years, so perhaps this " **▇▇** " is supposed to be Gary. Does not knowing that make her a bad mom by default?

She does not know but now she can't stop worrying about it now. Does this mean she has to go through more legal shit to change his name and legal sex? She was still tired over wrangling the American government about her citizenship back when she first started spying on John, and that was decades ago. All of this might just be too much.

But Sheryl had an epiphany. 

_ Perhaps we could move to Australia and try there... _ But that would mean leaving the last physical possession of John, and she's not yet ready for that. She's not sure if Gary (or should she use  **▇▇** ?) was ready either. Well, no way to get an answer better than to ask. She sorted her papers on a nest pile, turned towards the stairs and yelled.

  
  
  


_ “Gary! Come down here!” _ __   
Said boy blinked up from his drawing of Mooncake at the sound from his mom yelling. Did he do something wrong? Well, the only way to know is to come downstairs.   
“In a minute, Mom!” He yelled back as he went up from his sitting spot and immediately having blood rush back to his legs from sitting in a criss-cross position. He shook his legs for a second and then rushed downstairs, basically jumping down from the stairs to the ground floor.

“I’m here! What’s happening?” He leaned over to look at what his mother was looking at, and froze on the sight of his legal documents.  _ Did she know? Of course she knew, she was his mother, how could he even try to hide this from her? _ He held his breath to see what his mom would say. 

At the same time, Sheryl was studying Gary’s reaction, to confirm her suspicion. And her suspicion was correct, she had a trans son on her hands. “I was thinking about us moving to Australia for more comfort. America is a mess, but I wouldn’t want ya to leave any mates behind here.”

“Mates?” Gary asked back, going from standing in front of the table to sit on the couch.   
“Friends, classmates. You have any?” Sheryl started asking.   
Gary shook his head.   
“None?”   
Another head shake.   
“Is there a reason for this?”   
A nod.    
Sheryl had a soft hold on Gary’s shoulders now. “Gary, I want you to be honest with me. Will you?”   
“Mom...?”   
“Will you promise me that, Gary?”   
“I… I do. I promise.”   
A deep sigh. _ Here goes nothing. _

“Is it because they call you  **▇▇** ?”

Gary’s eyes started to tear up as he nodded. Now Sheryl felt like she was emotionally constipated, which she really shouldn’t be at the sight of her son crying. Trying to power through it, she lead her boy’s body into a hug, rubbing his back in an effort to calm him down.   
“There, there,” she did her best to calm him down the way she remembered that she always wanted to be as a child, “it’s okay, Gary. It’s ok.” Her son continued to wail despite her best efforts, muffled by her shirt. After he calmed down after a couple of minutes, she spoke quietly.

“If we go to Australia we can change that much easier. You can be there since I’m from Australia. Would you like to try that?”

A sniffle, and then a nod. He pulled away and rubbed his eyes. “After Mooncake is done with his chrysalis.”

“Your little bug, right?”   
“Yeah! He’s a luna moth you know! They stay green after their pupae stage…” Gary started rambling on about Mooncake’s species and fun facts, tears a thing of the past, while Sheryl slowly pulled Gary closer and listened. 

If this is how parenting works, then she sure hope she’s doing it right.


	3. Chapter 3

Parent-teacher night is such a boring experience. Sheryl never understood why teachers couldn’t just mail the information they wanted to share, and go on with their day. Now when John was gone, everyone gave her pity looks, and kept saying they’re sorry for her loss, which pisses her off to no end. Others whispered about her being John’s ex-wife, which is very understandable but dear god can people shut up about her already?

Noticing she was at her son’s classroom door, she was met by a short man.  
“Hello there Mrs. Goodspeed, and welcome to parent-teacher night. My name is Mr. Jacobsen. Please make yourself comfortable.”  
She gave a smile as a greeting back, and as fast as she passed by, she scoffed.

She was greeted by adults sitting by tables in a U-formation, and there was one seat left at the edge of it, most likely for her. Ignoring everyone else, she sat down and texted to Gary to not touch the oven until she comes back home. He texted back a smiley emoji, and a “_promise!!!!_”, which made her smile.

“Ahem. Mrs. Goodspeed, we need you to put down your phone.” She looks up, and it’s an old woman speaking.  
“I can’t text my son?” She shot back immediately.

“Just to not distract other people here. You’ll get to talk to your child after the seminar.”

She shrugged, nothing wrong with that reasoning. She put her phone down and waited for the talk to start.

It’s an awareness presentation of the bullying problem, but no mention of how to actually fight against it. She kind of just ignored it, and thought more about the fact that she and Gary are finally moving in a couple of months. She has finalized his paperwork to apply for citizenship in Australia and he had been accepted, she used John’s savings to get a house in Brisbane for real cheap, and she had a small part-time job to gather up enough money for food and living. She managed to find a buyer for John’s house, and all was going well.

_ Maybe I should get him something when we arrive in Brisbane, I should ask him… _

Noticing that they went from talking about bullying awareness to school activities, she began to focus more.

“…And for the yearly school trip, we will…” Well, that’s something she doesn’t need to care about, the school field trips are often on springs and they’d be long gone-  
“…Earlier this year after complaints from anonymous parents. We will do it in two weeks, and we’ll take the children to an amusement park nearby.”

_ The shitty, almost broken down one that’s in town for another three months? No way I’m subjecting Gary to that shit.   
_“We will give the children permission slips for this next week, so You may think about this until then.”  
_Good, I won’t let him go to something that underwhelming. _

Nothing much else happened, and Sheryl did tune out almost everything. After the teachers said that they were done for the day, every adult almost bolted for the door trying to get out of the building first. Sheryl knew better and just continued to sit down, now being able to talk with Gary again.

_ hey gary, you want smth 4 when we move? _

** _yea ma but i wanna show it when u get home_ **

_ okay, ill be there in 15. love you _

** _love you too!!!! _ **

God, what’d she do to deserve such a sweet son?

As she noticed that there were less people in the room, she went up from her seat. She was stopped by Mr. Jacobsen from leaving though. “Please, Mrs. Goodspeed, can you stay for a minute?”  
She blinked and gave a nod. What would he need to tell her? Is it something with Gary leaving school? She thought she fixed it all already.

After everyone had left, he spoke up.

“I truly am sorry for your losses, Mrs. Goodspeed. It truly must be hard to stay afloat currently, isn’t it?” Mr. Jacobsen spoke with genuine sadness in his voice, which confused Sheryl since she neither has met this man before today, or understood what he meant by ‘losses’. It seems like she’d spoken the latter question out loud, because Mr. Jacobsen answered it.  
“Well, you lost your husband and daughter, didn’t you? John is dead and **▇▇ **goes by some other name now, ugh.”  
Sheryl went quiet for a moment and then spoke up, almost in a whisper-like fashion. “What?”

Before Mr. Jacobson could even start repeating what he said, Sheryl grabbed his right arm and twisted it at breaking point.

“Now you listen to me, and you listen to me closely,” She leaned in towards the teacher’s face, mouth in a snarl, “You _ will _ refer to Gary by _ his _ right name, or I will have to go through even more drastic measures to make sure you do so. I have no qualms with breaking this arm and more bones in you, in fact it would be my pleasure to do so. Do I make myself clear, Mr. Jacobson?”

The teacher spluttered, obviously very afraid of this crazy woman. It did not satisfy her, so she bent harder until she heard a crack from the man's arm.  
“ _ Did I make myself clear, fuckwit?”  
_“Yes! Yes! Please let go of my arm!” The teacher cried out.

She let go of the teacher, scoffing at him cradling his arm in pain.  
“Filthy Aussie,” he spat at Sheryl, “Both you and your half-breed child should leave this school.”

“I’m sorry that a Seppo’s words don’t hurt me.” She replied back calmly at the door frame. “And don’t worry, we will.”


End file.
